Elise’s bedroom.
“Finally, I returned to the position of chairwoman. I’m so happy, Robin. Why don’t you sleep on my bed tonight?”
Lying on the bed, Elise tossed about happily like a child. She patted the space beside her and hinted at Robin to sleep next to her.
“OK.”
Robin was joyful. He wasn’t a saint, but he was good at restraining himself. He had never dated a woman while serving in the military, and Elise was the only woman in his life.
After Robin sat on the bed, Leslie suddenly crawled out of her quilt. “Mom, you sleep on the left. Daddy, you sleep on the right. I’ll sleep in the middle.”
“Leslie is here. Behave yourself.”
Elise glared at Robin.
No matter what, she was inexperienced, so she was alert to him.
“Take it easy. We can let nature take its flow,” Robin answered with a smile.
He believed Elise would accept him one day.
The following morning, Elise asked Robin to go to Lands Corporation with her. She found she had liked to be with Robin recently, wondering if she had fallen in love with him.
Standing in the lobby, Robin stared at the company logo. His intuition told him things wouldn’t go smoothly as expected.
“Don’t just stand there. Let’s go upstairs.”
Taking his hand, Elise entered the lobby with Robin. One of the receptionists at the front desk was Lily. Bowing her head, she greeted Elise in a low voice, “Morning, Ms. Houry.”
“Good morning, Ms. Houry,” other employees greeted Elise after seeing her.
“They are too friendly this morning. There must be something wrong,” Elise whispered in Robin’s ear.
“No worries. I’m with you.”
Robin gripped her hand.
When they arrived at the chairman’s office, all senior executives had arrived. Gordon, David, and Snowy were waiting for Elise. Seeing her, Gordon announced, “From now on, Elise Houry is the chairwoman of our company.”
“Good morning,” Elise greeted everyone in the room, walked to the chair behind the desk, and sat down.
Seeing the joy on Elise’s face, Robin stood behind her like a bodyguard. If people who knew him watched the scene, they would doubt if it was an illusion.
After all, Robin was Primus of Kisia, a famous general and only one level lower than the national commander-in-chief.
Snowy started to give her a hard time. “Elise, this is our company’s general meeting of shareholders. Why did you bring an outsider here? Does he deserve to be here? If he discloses our confidential information, will you be responsible?”
Elise smiled. “First, I’m the chairwoman of the board now, so please call me Ms. Houry in the company. That’s the company rules. Second, I have the right to invite anyone to join the meeting. Third, he’s not an outsider.”
Her words defended Robin as if she reminded others to respect him.
“Humph!” Snowy snorted and kept silent.
Inwardly, she said, ‘Enjoy your only happy moment. Think you can operate this company well after becoming the chairwoman of the board? You’d better dream on! You’ll definitely suffer.”
Shortly after, Jim entered the office with a contract. “Ms. Houry, how have you been? I heard you were back at Lands Corporation, so I rushed here. Here is our agreement. I made some modifications. Since the Robin-Sophia Group is only managing the project, I’m willing to take only 50% of the profits.”
“Thanks, Mr. Jordan. It’s really kind of you.”
Elise stood up.
‘Kind? Seriously?’
Others watched the scene in a daze. They still remember how overbearing and aggressive Jim was after he failed to see Elise in the meeting room. He was a typical man from the capital, looking at them in disdain.
Moreover, they were shocked by his suggestion as well.
‘50%?’
Although the Robin-Sophia Group only managed the project, the land belonged to them. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be confident to let Lands Corporation pay the 6-million-dollar penalty. It was already ideal if Lands Corporation would take 30% of the profits.
However, Jim offered them 50%.
All of them thought they must be hearing things.
Watching Jim fawn over Elise, they had an illusion that Elise was Jim’s boss as he almost knelt to her.
Elise also had the feeling. Rumors had it that the president of the Robin-Sophia Group was always short-tempered and looked down on others as he was from the capital.
However, she met Jim twice, and he was always humble and polite. Sometimes, Elise had the feeling that he would kneel to her.
She felt puzzled, wondering if it was because Jim was well-educated and that was how people in the capital did things.
After signing the contract, Jim left.
“All right. We’ve signed the contract with the Robin-Sophia Group. Let’s carry out the construction plan. I’ll set up five teams for this project. Joe Moore, you’ll be in the first team…”
Before Elise finished her words, Joe Moore raised his hand. “Sorry, Ms. Houry, but my wife is going to give birth. I cannot lead a team.”
“Your wife is going to give birth?”
Elise arched her eyebrow as she hadn’t heard Joe had a wife.
He even mentioned he was going to be a father.
“Second team. Zara Houry…” Elise called another employee who seemed to be competent.
However, before she finished her announcement, Zara Houry also raised her hand. “Sorry, Ms. Houry. My mother is sick in the hospital. I need to take a few weeks off to take care of her.”
“You…” Elise frowned.
She realized she had been deprived.
Robin could tell that although they all seemed to accept Elise to become the chairwoman, none wanted to obey her. Instead, all of them were disobedient.
Most of them glanced at David from time to time as they worked for him.
No wonder Gordon was willing to let Elise be the chairwoman of the board. It turned out Elise was secretly deprived. On the surface, she had the title, but the chairwoman of the board wasn’t the only one who made decisions.
There were other shareholders.
Besides, Robin also noticed other shareholders despised Elise.
“Those people cannot be trusted,” Robin whispered in Elise’s ear. Nodding her agreement, Elise could also tell that she had only a title.
“Joe, Zara, since you both want to take days off, I’ll find replacements for you,” Elise said affirmatively, planning to demote them.
However, David evidently coughed. A shareholder raised his hand immediately. “I disagree, Ms. Houry. They both are the elites of our company. You cannot replace them simply.”
“Exactly. They are in important positions. Only they can handle their jobs.”
“They just need a few days off. Why do you want to replace them? I disagree. Let’s vote for this decision.”
“I agree.”
“So do I.”
In the end, they quickly held a voting session and rejected Elise’s decision by 16 to 1.